It doesn’t matter if you are a full-time artist or a part-time artist.
Either way, you can still create new sources of income by leveraging your passion and your work.
And that’s why we wanted to show you 7 methods you can put into practice to make money with your art:
- Sell your artworks online
- Offer in license your art
- Become a Freelancer
- Create an online course or ebook.
- Create your blog
- Consulting
- Work for well-established marketplaces and blogs
But let’s talk about one thing first.
Being An Artist Today
For an external user, the internet world can look like a magical world where anything is possible.
You may have heard that you can easily make money online by selling your creations, exploit your artistic talent, and so on.
This kind of fiction gives you the impression that anything is possible in the internet world, but in reality, it’s just a false illusion, nothing further from the truth.
You can put everything you have with the expectation of immediate gains and then with the same ease with which you entered, immediately throw in the towel at the first failure.
So before starting it’s important to make some premises.
What the webmasters don’t tell you is the commitment and time it took to reach their level. We are talking about weeks, months, and years: nothing is immediate. There is no easy path to reach that level.
Also, keep in mind that many alleged “gurus” just exaggerate because they are more interested in selling their courses instead of offering a valuable contribution.
So, before your website or your social page reaches the right exposure it takes a lot of time and effort.
And this is the reason that prompted us to share these 7 methods to be able to exploit your artistic skills in an effective way.
1. Sell Your Artworks Online
Many internet sites are specializing in the sale of art objects and sculptures.
You could start taking a look at them or rely on a consolidated Marketplace with millions of users to get more visibility.
There are several of those but we recommend you to try Fine Art America.
This platform gives you the possibility to create your own virtual space where you can share your artwork with millions of users.
Alternatively, you could rely on Print On Demand services that make you upload designs to basic products to customize and sell.
And, in that regard, we recommend you Teespring and Redbubble websites.
2. Offer In License Your Art
An interesting opportunity is offered by Print On Demand websites like Zazzle, which give you the possibility to give in license your designs to third-party artists, that use them as their own, in exchange for a percentage of their sales (“royalties”). This is a smart way to generate fully automatic incomes.
3. Become a Freelancer
A very popular method in recent years is to rely on the work of external freelancers for certain commitments.
This is true, especially as regards the creation of design in the field of fashion.
Here your artistic expertise can be exploited way better.
There are marketplaces like Fiverr that connect creators with users all around the world. It’s an exceptional showcase for anyone who wants to show off and exploit their skills to the fullest.
4. Create An Online Course Or eBook
Another effective way is offered by online courses.
If you are competent at what you do, nothing prevents you from creating an online course and posting it on sites like Udemy.
It’s not only stimulating and rewarding, but it’s so wonderful to pass on your knowledge to someone really interested in learning them.
And if your content is of quality, they will be the first advertisers of those to their friends or relatives!
Of course, it’s not necessarily needed to create an online course. You could organize seminars and conferences too.
What really matters is that you transmit exclusive, high-level content, recognized and appreciated by all.
Alternatively, a trend of recent years is to write an e-book that summarizes your method and offers it for free to the public. It may seem crazy but nothing involves better people than offering quality content for free.
In this way, they have the opportunity to appreciate your skills and your personality at first glance and you will become more authoritative in their eyes that will rather purchase your courses or your products than others.
Keep in mind that we are talking about an investment: it’s something that will bear fruit over time. Don’t expect immediate results.
5. Create Your Blog
Creating an online blog is the best solution to intercept a large scale of people.
By publishing quality content on an ongoing basis, you will be able to promote your work constantly.
The most important thing is to know what your audience wants, what are their requests, and above all which solution to provide to their problems.
In this way, you will gradually gain the trust of the readers and grow your niche in that target market.
Once you reach a certain popularity, you can take advantage of the traffic on your site to promote your products or those of other companies, through affiliations and sponsorships.
6. Consulting
It ties in a little bit to point 3 but it’s a more advanced concept.
It‘s no longer just a matter of making designs for somebody else but to act as a true mentor to an emerging artist or to anyone willing to try.
The same goes for companies interested in enhancing their artistic projects: you can provide them sophisticated designs and advanced processes that are unique in their genre.
You can offer private consultations, one-to-one meetings, or Skype calls.
If done at certain levels, it’s one of the most lucrative remunerations.
7. Work For Well-Established Marketplaces & Blogs
Another effective way to gain experience is to work for an established art gallery or a related marketplace.
It allows you to see firsthand how do they work and learn their basic methodology.
And, once learned, you can replicate them in your business.
Learning a proven method certainly facilitates your task, especially when it comes to setting up a website and starting to promote your creations.
Alternatively, you could consider collaborating with famous bloggers and curating their art sections.
In this way, you will higher your exposure with simplicity and effectiveness.
Conclusion
As we like to repeat, following these steps is important but may not be enough unless you don’t develop the right mindset. It’s not just a matter of technical skills, we’re talking about entrepreneurship. You need to learn new marketing skills and improve your creative mastery, even if you’re already advanced.
But, although seems difficult, with hard work and dedication, it’s possible to learn how to make money as an artist in 2021. Are you ready to catch this challenge?
BONUS – Where To Sell Your Artworks?
CustomCat
CustomCat, a Detroit-based fulfillment, has a big role in the Print On Demand industry.
Their catalog is one of the biggest available, with over 550 products on the list. The production time is on average and the prices are in line with other competitors. However, discounts on your chart can be applied if you subscribe to the premium plan at 30$ per month (estimated fees of $3.50 for mugs and $7 for tees, among the lowest in the market right now).
Their design tool is quite basic, which is fine for beginners who are not looking for complex designs.
Orders are usually shipped within 2-3 working days (inside the US) and within 7-15 days (overseas). Costs range from $4.99 for domestic orders to $7.50 for international ones, with supplements for additional items ($1.5-$5.95).
Sublimation, embroidery, DTG, and 3D dye diffusion are the main printing options provided.
CustomCat is recommended for broad catalog stores, due to the wide range of choices of customized products available in their marketplace.
Apliiq Print On Demand
Based in Los Angeles, Apliiq is a Print On Demand company that offers a broad variety of customized products, combining high-quality designs and an easy interface.
Their marketplace provides the best discounts if you’re planning to sell in bulk, almost the same prices you can find in wholesale shops (for an order of 10 items you can get a 20% discount).
They offer a premium plan of $100 per year, which includes even the possibility to sew the custom woven fabric onto the texture of your items, making them really unique.
The order takes usually 5-7 days to be processed and delivered; fees start from $3.99 for US countries, getting higher for international shipping.
Printing options available are Direct to Garment, sublimation, cut and sew, and embroidery.
A badge of Apliiq is the possibility to apply custom patches and tags to your products. You can even make further customization, like creating pockets and other embellishments to your clothing.
We would recommend Apliiq to anyone willing to take their business to a higher level, in terms of quality and quantity, especially if you’re planning to order in bulk for getting lower prices.
